3 minutes ago12 Countries in Europe Where You Can Buy Citizenship
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)They are called the Golden Vis and are the main door, to enter the European Union -- they are passports for sale, available by 12 EU countries in exchange for a considerable investment. A practice that, in addition to presenting a moral issue, also poses a problem of legitimacy, since [the] program [...]
They are called the Golden Vis and are the main door, to enter the European Union -- they are passports for sale, available by 12 EU countries in exchange for a considerable investment.
A practice that, in addition to presenting a moral issue, also poses a problem of legitimacy, as the Arta Visa programme offers an easy path and a substitute immunity also for subjects with swollen portfolios, but with a criminal record that is not always clear or at least not always regularly controlled.
A serious record on this issue are investigations by the Organised Crime and Corruption Project (Occrp), on which Transparency International is trying to pressure EU countries to suspend the practice or intensify controls. World nations implementing this system are 20 (including the US) and 12 of them are European: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.
A number that could increase with the beginning of programmes from Montenegro and Armenia, and (as it says) in the future from Italy. That Italy will be at stake, for now there is no concrete evidence, except for the fact that “was introduced last December. Investors Visa for Italy”, a programme that allows citizens of non-European countries to apply for visas, but not citizenship, not passport for a considerable investment.
In various countries of the world where practice is under way, the requirements for EU passport access vary from country to country, but are essentially similar: a considerable investment. What changes, says no contemptless, the Transparency International report is “the price of the charter”; in Austria, where there is no real Golden Visa programme, citizenship is still given to those who “have exceptional merit to the Republic, or invest a minimum of 10m euros; in the United Kingdom or Cyprus, 2 million are enough (between Cypriots is also Oleg Deripaska, Russian billionaire with close ties to President Vladimir Putin); Malta requires 1.2 million, while Portugal grants citizenship to those who invest a million, or 500 thousand in real estate, or those who start an activity that gives jobs to at least 10 people.
The cheapest are Greece and Latvia, demanding only 275 thousand euros and a permanent settlement, which has turned very wealthy but not extremely wealthy people into second home, to such a large extent as Latvia, which initially required only an investment of 70 thousand euros, had to increase the price. To date, based on surveys of agencies specialising in demand and receiving a second passport, the main market of citizenship buyers is Chinese, as over 100,000 Chinese have spent 24 billion dollars in the last decade to buy a permit to stay through investment programmes, followed by Russian citizens.
Montenegro's entry among countries offering a citizenship programme can provide oxygen to the country's violated crates (which has only 600 thousand inhabitants) and expand, if possible, even more opportunities for those wishing to become European citizens, given that Podgorica will probably enter the European Union in 2025, along with Serbia.
